KUNC 91.5 FM picks Colorado Bluegrass Music Society picks Creative Music Works picks
**Take advantage of advance ticket prices, as they go up the day of the show!** ADV: $18/$15 MEM; D/S: $21/$18 MEM
Toting an ample supply of vintage instruments and a sound that brings listeners back to the days of old-time radio, Steppin’ In It is on the rise in the roots community. From Lansing, Mich., these young men pound out their own brand of roots combining old-time country, swing and blues. Together they achieve the seemingly impossible task of making the most traditional sounds contemporary, playing what Performing Songwriter Magazine calls “some of the liveliest and most rocking acoustic roots music around.” Upright bassist Dominic Suchyta and multi-instrumentalist brothers Andy & Joe Wilson complement the strong songwriting talents of singer/songwriter Josh Davis, whose haunting vocals paint a picture of rural and urban Michigan breaking its blue collar back under troubled times.
Rachael Davis has been singing on stage since she was two years old, and since then has spent most of her life involved with music in one way or another. In the span of her six-year solo career she has shared the stage with Boston-based singer/songwriter Vance Gilbert, folk divas Claudia Schmidt and Sally Rogers, Prairie Home Companion regulars Robin and Linda Williams, Greg Brown, Taj Mahal, Robert Earl Keen, Fred Eaglesmith, Josh Ritter, jazz legends Marcus Belgrave and Winston Walls, amongst others. She has also opened for Dar Williams, Little Feat, Garnet Rogers, Chris Smither, Eddie From Ohio, Clive Gregson, Willy Porter, and many more. In 2001 she relocated from her native Michigan to Boston and within seven months was awarded the Boston Music Award for Best New Singer-Songwriter. In 2003, Davis took home the grand prize in the Telluride Bluegrass Festival’s Troubadour Contest.
Rachael Davis and the boys from Steppin’ In It found a common love for jazz music after playing concerts as a double-bill. The summer of 2006 found the two Michigan acts working at the same festivals, as classic tunes from Nat King Cole or Sarah Vaughan found their way onto set lists. By the fall, the quintet was dubbed “Shout Sister Shout” (after the Sister Rosetta Tharpe classic of the same name) and an album of the same name was in the works. Combining the timeless rhythm section of Steppin’ In It and Rachael’s velvety vocals, this group “creates a live show that is hot, energetic and brilliant…” — WXPR Radio, Rhinelander, Wisc.
Shout Sister Shout focuses on American jazz music featuring torch swing numbers alongside bluesy ballads. Detroit’s Metro Times writes, “The quintet is a tribute to the smoky, sophisticated sound of 1930s and ‘40s jazz, with plenty of influence from Cole Porter, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Nat King Cole Trio and Sarah Vaughan, and it’s a trip to hear Davis channel those old greats. Of course, it doesn't hurt to have a bunch of guys playing the hell out of vintage instruments as backup.” They brought the house down at our March Folk & Roots Fest and are back by popular demand!
